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Werner Seifert, the former chief executive of Deutsche BÃ¶rse who lost his job yesterday following his failed bid for the London Stock Exchange, is in line for a payout of at least â¬3m ($3.9m). This comes as the hedge fund responsible for his resignation said it could back a new LSE bid on the right terms.

Seifert has a five-year employment contract, renewed on August 1 2001, which was due to run out at the end of July next year. Under German law Seifert, who was paid just under €2.6m in salary and bonus last year, is entitled to be paid out in full despite leaving the exchange early.

Taking into account both salary and bonus, this means Seifert is entitled to €3.023m.

Seifert, who has been with the exchange since August 1993, owns no shares in the Börse and the value of his pension fund is not disclosed. Banking sources in Frankfurt suggested that, because of his long service, Seifert could be in line for a higher payout.

Deutsche Börse declined to comment.

Details of Breuer's entitlement come as The Children's Investment Fund Management, the hedge fund central to the resignations of Seifert and chairman Rolf Breuer, said it had no favoured candidate to replace them nor was it opposed to exchange consolidation.

The hedge fund's opposition to Deutsche Börse's aborted £1.35bn (€1.98bn) putative bid for the London Stock Exchange led to yesterday's abrupt resignations of Seifert and Börse chairman Rolf Breuer.

Patrick Degorce, partner at TCI, said he could still support a rekindled merger between Deutsche Börse and the LSE in principle, or between Deutsche Börse and Euronext, the pan-European rival hoping to play a key role in European exchange consolidation.